LETTER FROM THE OPALKA FAMILY ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

I dream a world where man No other man will scorn, Where love will bless the earth And peace its paths adorn…

These words of Langston Hughes, which open the poem that inspired our October concert, ring constantly in my mind as I watch the world around me. The relentless waves of political unrest, economic tension, armed conflict, environmental disaster, and human cruelty threaten to rend apart our communities and our world. It’s overwhelming to think about all the despair in our world, and it’s certainly hard to hold onto hope in the face of such misery. And yet.

I still dream of a world “where wretchedness will hang its head, and joy, like a pearl, attends the needs of all mankind.” Because without hope and dreams, surely there can be no justice, no freedom, and no joy.

As artists, we have a responsibility to respond to our world—it is both our duty and our privilege to provide inspiration when outlooks are grim, to create beauty out of ugliness, to offer safe haven for diverse people to come together in celebration and enjoyment of art.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored this important charge—our world needs music that captures and nurtures the human spirit, that heals and inspires. I’m so grateful for the extraordinary support of our patrons and donors, which allowed Albany Pro Musica to continue to make art during the virtual season, and then to resume live performances last year amidst great uncertainty.

The programs this season embody the hopes I have for our world. We started the season over the summer, with appearances with The Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City Ballet at SPAC. In October, APM launched our regular season with “I Dream a World,” which featured several musical settings of Hughes’ powerful poem, along with other music that highlights our shared humanity. In December, “The Many Moods of Christmas” inspired our audiences with both sacred and secular holiday favorites. In March, “Star Song” reminded us that, in the words of Carl Sagan, we’re all “made of star stuff.” This humbling and inspiring reality was captured by our composer-in-residence Bradley Ellingboe, in a piece that bridges historical periods, languages, and faith traditions. We performed last month with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, and are offering our most ambitious educational programs to-date in partnership with the University at Albany and Queen’s University in Canada. Now, we are ending our season with a profound call for peace, with two masterworks by Haydn and Vaughan Williams.

It is an exciting season, with music designed to spark compassion, joy, and hope. It is our answer to the darkness that shrouds our world, and we hope you’ll join us in kindling the light of more inclusive, peaceful, and loving world.

José Daniel Flores-Caraballo Opalka Family Artistic Director

ALBANY PRO MUSICA PRESENTS

MUSIC FOR PEACE IN A TIME OF WAR

May 7, 2023 at 3:00pm

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

JOSÉ DANIEL FLORES-CARABALLO, Opalka Family Artistic Director

EVANGELIA LEONTIS, Soprano

KARA DUGAN, Mezzo-Soprano

DANIEL MOJICA, Tenor

PHILIP LIMA, Baritone

Support for our 2022-2023 season comes from our marquee season underwriters

Isabel Bader

Christine and George R. Hearst III

Chet and Karen Opalka

Additional season support provided by William Tuthill and Gregory Anderson

Al De Salvo

Ellen Jabbur

Wayne A. Senitta, Jr. and Daniel Washington

Michael and Linda Wolff

Support for this concert provided by Vaughn Nevin I John J. Nigro I Margery and Michael Whiteman

Masterworks Chorus

Evangelia Leontis, Soprano

Kara Dugan, Mezzo-soprano

Daniel Mojica, Tenor

Philip Lima, Baritone

I. Kyrie

II. Gloria in Excelsis

III. Credo

IV. Sanctus

V. Benedictus

VI. Agnus Dei

Concert Chorus

Evangelia Leontis, Soprano

Philip Lima, Baritone

I. Agnus Dei

II. Beat! Beat! Drums!

III. Reconciliation

IV. Dirge for Two Veterans

V. The Angel of Death

VI. O Man Greatly Beloved!

Please silence all electronic devices.

Missa in tempore belli

(Mass in Time of War)

Latin mass text

I. Kyrie

Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison.

Translation:

Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy.

II. Gloria in Excelsis

Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis. Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te, gratias agimus tibi propter magnam gloriam tuam, Domine Deus, Rex caelestis, Deus Pater omnipotens. Domine Fili unigenite, Jesu Christe, Domine Deus, Agnus Dei, Filius Patris, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis; qui tollis peccata mundi, suscipe deprecationem nostram. Qui sedes ad dexteram Patris, miserere nobis.

Quoniam tu solus Sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus Altissimus, Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spiritu: in gloria Dei Patris. Amen.

Translation:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God almighty Father.

Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.

For You alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen

III. Credo

Credo in unum Deum, Patrem omnipotentem, factorem cæli et terræ, visibilium omnium et invisibilium.

Et in unum Dominum, Jesum Christum, Deum de Deo, Lumen de Lumine, genitum non factum, consubstantialem Patri; per quem omnia facta sunt.

Qui propter nos homines et propter nostram salutem descendit de cælis.

Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est.

Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato passus, et sepultus est, et resurrexit tertia die, secundum Scripturas, et ascendit in cælum, sedet ad dexteram Patris.

Et iterum venturus est cum gloria, iudicare vivos et mortuos, cuius regni non erit finis;

Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificantem, qui locutus est per prophetas.

Et unam, sanctam, catholicam et apostolicam Ecclesiam.

Confiteor unum baptisma in remissionem peccatorum.

Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum, et vitam venturi sæculi. Amen.

Translation:

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible:

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, God from God, Light from Light, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation descended from heaven. He was incarnate by the Holy Ghost out of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. He was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried: And he rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures: And ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father: And the same shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead: Of whose kingdom there shall be no end; And (I believe) in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and life-giver, who has spoken through the prophets. And (I believe in) one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, I confess one baptism for the remission of sins. And I await the resurrection of the dead: and the life of the coming age. Amen.

IV. Sanctus

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth.

Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua. Osanna in excelsis.

Translation:

Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts. Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest.

V. Benedictus

Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Osanna in excelsis.

Translation:

Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.

VI. Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis. Agnus Dei. Dona nobis pacem.

Translation: Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Lamb of God. Grant us peace.

Dona Nobis Pacem

I. Agnus Dei

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, Dona nobis pacem.

Translation: Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Grant us peace.

II. Beat! Beat! Drums!

Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow! Through the windows—through doors— burst like a ruthless force, Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation,

Into the school where the scholar is studying;

Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride,

Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, ploughing his field or gathering his grain,

So fierce you whirr and pound you drums—so shrill you bugles blow.

Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow! Over the traffic of cities—over the rumble of wheels in the streets;

Are beds prepared for the sleepers at night in the houses? No sleepers must sleep in those beds, No bargainers’ bargains by day—would they continue?

Would the talkers be talking? would the singer attempt to sing? Then rattle quicker, heavier drums—you bugles wilder blow.

Beat! beat! drums!—blow! bugles! blow! Make no parley—stop for no expostulation,

Mind not the timid—mind not the weeper or prayer,

Mind not the old man beseeching the young man,

Let not the child’s voice be heard, nor the mother’s entreaties, Make even the trestles to shake the dead where they lie awaiting the hearses, So strong you thump O terrible drums— so loud you bugles blow.

Poem by Walt Whitman

III. Reconciliation

Word over all, beautiful as the sky, Beautiful that war, and all its deeds of carnage, must in time be utterly lost, That the hands of the sisters Death and Night, incessantly, softly, wash again and ever again, this soiled world; For my enemy is dead, a man divine as myself is dead,

I look where he lies, white-faced and still, in the coffin—I draw near, Bend down and touch lightly with my lips the white face in the coffin.

Poem by Walt Whitman

IV. Dirge for Two Veterans

The last sunbeam Lightly falls from the finished Sabbath, On the pavement here, and there beyond it is looking, Down a new-made double grave.

Lo, the moon ascending, Up from the east the silvery round moon, Beautiful over the house-tops, ghastly, phantom moon, Immense and silent moon.

I see a sad procession, And I hear the sound of coming full-keyed bugles, All the channels of the city streets they’re flooding, As with voices and with tears.

I hear the great drums pounding, And the small drums steady whirring, And every blow of the great convulsive drums, Strikes me through and through.

For the son is brought with the father, In the foremost ranks of the fierce assault they fell, Two veterans, son and father, dropped together, And the double grave awaits them.

Now nearer blow the bugles, And the drums strike more convulsive, And the daylight o’er the pavement quite has faded, And the strong dead-march enwraps me.

In the eastern sky up-buoying, The sorrowful vast phantom moves illumined, ‘Tis some mother’s large transparent face, In heaven brighter growing.

O strong dead-march you please me!

O moon immense with your silvery face you soothe me!

O my soldiers twain! O my veterans passing to burial!

What I have I also give you.

The moon gives you light, And the bugles and the drums give you music,

And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans, My heart gives you love.

Poem by Walt Whitman

IV. The Angel of Death

The Angel of Death has been abroad throughout the land; you may almost hear the beating of his wings. There is no one as of old…..to sprinkle with blood the lintel and the two sideposts of our doors, that he may spare and pass on.

Text by John Bright

We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!

The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan; the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land…..and those that dwell therein….

The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved…..

Is there no balm in Gilead?; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

Jeremiah VIII. 15-22.

VI. O Man Greatly Beloved!

‘O man greatly beloved, fear not, peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong.’ Daniel X. 19.

‘The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former…..and in this place will I give peace.’

Haggai II. 9.

‘Nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

And none shall make them afraid, neither shall the sword go through their land.

Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth, and the righteousness shall look down from heaven.

Open to me the gates of righteousness, I will go to them.

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled; and let them hear, and say, it is the truth. And it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues.

And they shall come and see my glory. And I will set a sign among them, and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, so shall your seed and your name remain for ever.’

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward me.

Dona nobis pacem.

Adapted from Micah IV. 3, Leviticus XXVI. 6, Psalms LXXXV. 10, and CXVII. 19, Isaiah XLIII. 9, and LXVI. 18-22, and Luke II. 14.

Program Notes

OVERVIEW: What should choral music for peace in a time of war be like? Should it honor the dead? Should it provide comfort to survivors of war? Should it remind us of war’s horrors, so we never commit to another? Of course, there’s no one answer, but what is clear is that composers have often used their art to comment on conflict and its ravages. Many will recall APM’s stunning performances of Karl Jenkins’s anti-war “The Armed Man” and Benjamin Britten’s haunting “War Requiem.”

This afternoon we will hear works by two 64-year-old men, artists who at this point in their careers had experienced much of life and were able to bring to bear on their pieces considerable musical skills and informed points of view about the human condition. One was a dutiful employee of an Austrian prince, and the other an English WWI veteran. While they knew that music provides no remedy for political dissension or combat, they believed that it is a place of refuge and hope.

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Papa Haydn: known by most of us as the father of the symphony (104 in all) and the string quartet (68).

But between 1750 and 1802 he also wrote 14 masses, the last six of which were composed to celebrate the name day of Prince Nicholas II of Esterhazy’s wife, Maria. “Mass in Time of War” was one of these, premiering at the Esterhazy estate during a perilous time in Austria. As Martin Pearlman observes in his program notes for a Boston Baroque performance of this piece, Vienna was under threat from Napoleon’s forces (the city ultimately fell in 1805). “While (Haydn) did not often express political views, his title for this mass, Missa in tempore belli (Mass in Time of War), as well as its music reflect a sense of foreboding as Austria and its allies were about to face Napoleon.” Indeed, an alternate title for the work, “Paukenmesse,” refers to the militaristic color of the timpani.

The piece, then, seems both temporal in its reference to current events and timeless in its spiritual consolation.

KYRIE: The chorus quietly outlines a C-major chord, appropriate for an act of prayer asking for mercy. The timpani speak, intensifying the mood. Soon the solo quartet appears, and the request becomes loud and insistent over the next four minutes, the speed and volume reflecting the urgency.

GLORIA: There are three parts to this movement, opening with two-and-a-half minutes’ worth of adoration, in a swinging 3/4 time, with strings propulsive, the timpani thumping, and the chorus spilling out roulades on words like “adoramus” and “glorificamus.”

The “Qui tollis” section is in cut time, featuring a warm cello solo whose tune in taken up by the stately bass. The chorus appears, for the sins are “ours,” and the text is supported alternately by fast/slow, loud/soft, and major/minor music: we are sinners, yet we remain hopeful of your mercy.

A return to the mood (and music) of the first part of the GLORIA characterizes the “Quoniam” portion.

CREDO: If the previous movements were emotional in nature, this one, also in three sections, has a narrative quality. The brief opening section is a confident and fugue-like statement of faith by the chorus, which then gives way to the quartet’s telling, in 3/4 time, of the story of Jesus’s birth and death. The C-minor key first suggests the wonder of spirit becoming flesh, and then it reflects the suffering (“passus”) of Jesus. The rhythm is slightly halting; the winds add emotional color to the narration.

Of course, what follows is the third, and, to Christians, most important part of Jesus’s story: resurrection. Musically, Haydn word paints as the line leaps up! The energy in the strings and the chorus is light and infectious: Jesus’s return to eternal life signals that possibility for us if we believe. That notion is enhanced by an extraordinary pause after the word “mortuorum.” The unmitigated joy takes over in a rhapsodic fugue in two.

SANCTUS: Two moods govern this section: hushed respect, featuring the tender alto and the oboe; and a clamorous celebration, highlighted by the clarion call of the tenor.

BENEDICTUS: Following a lovely string introduction, the quartet shines in a gentle 6/8 section commending anyone coming “in the name of the Lord.” The first key is C minor, then C major, punctuated overall by a brief “Hosanna!”

AGNUS DEI: It is in this movement, of course, that one can definitely hear that this piece may be more than the customary birthday gift by Haydn to his employer. The military timpani and trumpet seem out of place, but perhaps the spiritual peace that is often referred to in the Roman Catholic mass is equally of a secular nature here: no more war! The movement/mass then concludes with a clamorous C-major section in 3/4 as the chorus and soloists pray for peace.

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

The last words of Haydn’s mass are “Dona nobis pacem,” and the title of Vaughan Williams’ cantata is the same.

Thus Vaughan Williams gets right to the point in this choral work from 1936, fleshing it out with words from the mass, the Bible, 19th-century English statesman and orator John Bright, and one of his favorite poets, Walt Whitman. (In fact, by this time he had set a number of Whitman’s poems in pieces like “Toward the Unknown Region,” “Three Nocturnes,” and his Symphony No. 1. As the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society website notes, “Whitman’s structural and metrical freedom, his open-air style and spiritual intensity liberated Vaughan Williams’ musical imagination.”)

Both Whitman and Vaughan Williams knew first-hand about war. The former— too old to serve in the American Civil War—nursed soldiers in Washington, D.C., seeing up close the effects of battle. The latter lied about his age, shaving off three years, in order to serve in World War I, where he, too, experienced combat misery.

This work comes from a period when many in Europe imagined that a second war was imminent. It is thus a prayer for peace.

Like the Haydn, “Dona Nobis Pacem” is in six movements, but six uninterrupted movements: the drama is seamless.

The first movement begins with a soprano quietly imploring—God? politicians?—for peace. An undercurrent of distress is apparent in her line and in the sudden outbursts of sound, and the chorus laments more than it supplicates. What are the “peccata mundi” about which they sing? Perhaps not religious in nature.

The second movement is a sardonic imploring to the drums of war to infect every aspect of life, to overwhelm the natural course of things, things that Whitman, that famous poetic list-maker, rattles off. The layering of such images of ordinary living reminds us of the total destruction of battle and an uncertain future. The orchestra is a sonic military machine; the chorus pumps out chunks of phrases in a barely comprehensible way.

The chaos gives way to another poem by Whitman, “Reconciliation,” introduced on a gentle, sinuous line by the baritone and then taken up by the chorus. It’s a dramatic scene, its depiction of the connection between enemy soldiers anticipating the great poem by Wilfred Owen called “Strange Meeting,” wherein combatants find each other in the afterlife and come to a sad camaraderie. And then, once again, the soprano’s injunction, “Dona nobis pacem.”

That Whitman probably experienced what he writes about in the fourth movements is hardly to be doubted: he knew his soldier patients well and mourned them when he could not save them. A double burial? In this case, a father and a son, the horrifying fact of which comes midway through the poem. The moon, as seen through Whitman’s grieving eyes, is beautiful at first, then ghastly, then benign, like a mother’s countenance. All of the previous military pomp is thus deflated. The repetitious, plodding music wastes away from sentimentality to genuine sentiment in the last stanza.

The fifth movement describes the state of the world between the wars, the world Vaughan Williams was in as he composed the piece. The Angel of Death is out and about. Unlike the story in Exodus, Bright suggests, now there is no safety from slaughter. It will come. And the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah says, “We looked for peace, but no good came.” The vocal line is one great sigh, woven with sadness and complaint.

The final movement, which begins with a commanding bass solo—the powerful voice of God?—lifts up the despairing with words from the prophets. Then on the words “Open the gates of righteousness,” the note of hope is sounded, and for some giddy moments it’s as if peace has arrived. The percussion section goes all out, and the chorus, as with one voice, exults.

But it is the soprano who has the very last word, and it is optimistically cautionary: “Pacem.”

Concert notes by Paul Lamar